Starting Afresh....

Whilst doing some work on my computer, power went out. Unfortunately, my UPS had some problems and I had forgotten to save, so I lost the document. You can imagine how I felt; after so much brain work, taking so much pain to ensure I was producing good quality work, then I lose it because I didn’t save. Of course I had to begin again, and this time, saving every five minutes.

Though I wasn’t able to reproduce exactly what I’d done before the power went out, I had the opportunity to start afresh. This new lease on life meant that I could even produce far better than I’d done before. Was there any point assuming that what I was working on before was the best I could churn out? Why, no way!

This experience reminds me of how we never really get the opportunity to right the wrongs in our past. Once you’ve done it, you’ve done it, and it’s recorded in history. You can make amends but you can never change the situation to the exact way it was before. Most often, a lot of people concentrate on changing the past when the future beckons, fresh and untouched, waiting to be filled with even better memories. Looking back always without focusing ahead never got anyone far in life.

We look back at the past and wonder why we ever did some of the things that we did. We wonder why we “messed up” and went against all conventions to fulfil our hearts desires, even though we knew in our deepest parts that we were wrong. You ask yourself “what exactly was I thinking? How could I have been so dumb to have ever done this/ said that?” You fill your mind with thoughts of what should have happened instead of what did happen.

At those times, do you sometimes just wish you could start life all over again? Get another chance to rectify the things you aren’t quite proud of in your past; failures, indiscretions; begin anew? wipe the slate clean and get rid of all the unpleasant memories et al that you may have gathered along your walk through life? erase all the old unpleasant memories that lurk deep within your soul? I know I sometimes do but I’m learning to realise that it’s just a waste of time. The reality of life is that we can never really bring the past back in turn. Once we've experienced a certain time, we can't go back again to relive it. Once 17.59, 20th January 2007 is over, it's over! You will never experience that time frame again; it's saved in the annals of history, etched in your sub conscious.

But then we still wish, don’t we? And why might that be? Probably because of the way we are “wired”. Comfort thinking I call it; revelling in your thoughts; wishing, hoping, maybe even justifying the action, even though you know that doesn’t really change anything. You focus on the past and nothing comes out of it. Whilst this may not be really bad, focusing solely on the past is not good at all.

It’s important to look back once in a while to chart a better course for the future. Retracing our steps helps us prepare for tomorrow but we must never remain in our past because it can become the greatest enemy of your future.

Tomorrow is waiting; untouched, unclaimed. Move ahead, make amends where necessary, learn the lessons from the past and make these the building blocks of your tomorrow. Realise that you really can start afresh; not by reclaiming the lost moments but by using the experience to build a better future.